Somewhere along the path of time are strewn the many abandoned colloquialisms and slang words once popular in the American English language. Of those, some remain in our speech as remnants of whatever time we came to age.

An example? Whenever my father thought I took too long walking home for lunch from elementary school, he would accuse me of lollygaging around. Granted, I never before heard that word used anywhere else then in the late 1960s, but given my father’s stern tone, it wasn’t hard for me to figure out its context. Stop fooling around and get home for lunch on time.

It would be decades before I ever heard the dated lollygag vocalized by another human besides my father. It happened one night not too long ago when my husband Jerry happened to settle the TV remote on an old “Bowery Boys” film from either the 1930s or 1940s. I believe it was Huntz Hall who abdomished the others to “quit lollygagging around.” Ah, finally! This made sense. My father, who was born in 1931, grew up watching the films of these lollygagger boys from the Bowery.

Today, Meriam-Webster online confirms this age-old term once was synonymous for fooling around. Although it allegedly acquired a sexual connotation in the early 20th century, I seriously doubt this was my father’s intent when rebuking my 9-year-old self. His main concern was the simmering pan of chicken noodle soup my mother had placed on our kitchen stove for my noontime consumption 15 minutes prior.

Stay tuned for more of my words about words.